This application is a 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP02/00488, filed Jan. 19, 2002, which claims the priority of German Patent Application No. 101 08 685.7, filed Feb. 23, 2001, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a support for an interior lining part of a vehicle, and more particularly, to a support comprising a first attachment element connectable to the interior lining part, a second attachment element connectable to the body of the vehicle, an elastically and/or plastically deformable deformation element which lies between the attachment elements and is connected to the attachment elements, and having a tensile load absorber which relieves the deformation element in the tension direction.
Japanese Patent 7-81508 describes a support for an interior lining panel part which is positioned in the impact region of the knee joints of occupants. The known support has a first attachment element, to which the interior lining part is attached. A second attachment element of the support is connected to the body, particularly a crossbeam for a dashboard. A deformation element having legs arranged in a V-shape lies between the two attachment elements. A buckling region is implemented in the connection region of both legs of the V, which is deformed in the event of a knee impact in order to transform the impact energy acting as a compressive load essentially into deformation work. In the event of a tensile load, the deformation element is relieved by a tensile load absorption feature, formed by a straight stud in the present support, which is attached to the two legs of the V by welding. It is, however, disadvantageous in the known support that the tensile load absorption means impairs the deformation behavior of the deformation element.
A support which is used for a knee protection device and holds a panel onto the vehicle body is described in DE 195 11 512 A1. However, it does not have any tensile load absorption feature, so that its curved deformation element may be deformed both by tensile and by compressive loads, due to which the panel of the knee protection may project from the other lining parts of the dashboard under unfavorable circumstances, which results in a non-uniform appearance.